Local artist hopes mural wins prize

Choosing to enter a 20-by-10 feet mural into a state competition, she needed a lot of material and space.

Working in a Toledo warehouse to fit the 20-foot tall painting, Ms. Burt used a scissor lift to complete the project.

The mural was made of 2-by-4-inch steel tubing with .8 aluminum faces painted with automotive paint and clear coat.

Her mural is an aquatic piece that features two large whales swimming near the ocean's floor.

"It has a ground background (pattern) which makes the painting have a holographic quality, then painted in candy color paints," explained Ms. Burt, owner of Tiger Quill Images Professional Art Services in Monroe. "The whales are opaque HOK paints on top of the background."

ArtPrize is an open art competition that features nearly 1,600 artists at 164 venues within three square miles in Grand Rapids, where the event draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.

This year, it is being held from Wednesday to Oct. 9. Ms. Burt's mural will be displayed outside at Vander Hyde Mechanical on the service drive from M-131 entering Grand Rapids.

Each artist is competing for a grand prize of $250,000. The winner is determined through a public voting process. The artist with the most votes wins the top prize.

Anyone 16 and older who registers with ArtPrize with a valid government-issued ID may vote by mobile phone or online. Voter registration will be open throughout Grand Rapids or it can be done online at www.artprize.org.

Voting from Wednesday through Sept. 28 must be done at the art show.

The second week, the public votes on the top 10 finalists and that can be done between Sept. 29 to Oct. 5. The winners will be announced Oct. 6. Results will be published online.

The voting system uses "up" numbers for each artist. To vote for Ms. Burt's mural, vote up 42131.

For more information about ArtPrize, visit www.artprize.org. For more information on Tiger Quill Images, visit www.tigerquill.com.

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